They’re heeeeere! At the feed stores. Peeping under heat lamps. Little motherless chicks, small enough to nap in the palm of your hand, just waiting for someone to take them home and love them. And oh, the names of the breeds: One feed store is bringing in Danish brown leghorns, Jersey black giants, gold sex […]
Life + Outdoors
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In Formation
The V-formations of honking Aleutian Cackling Geese that decorate our skies pose the question as to whether they fly in formation for social cohesion or to conserve energy. The reason military jets fly in V-formation is not to conserve energy, but to permit trailing pilots to remain in visual contact with the leading pilot. Fortunately, […]
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North to Alaska
Part Two of Dan the Faller Man’s story. Read Part One: My Worst Job In which Dan the Faller Man remembers his choker-setter days, Feb. 28, 2008 Dan’s week-long stint in the Headwaters Forest was just one of many part-time jobs he held outdoors and in the woods while a student at the College of […]
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The Ins and Outs of Tides
The Moon’s gravity decreases with distance, so it pulls unequally at the Earth and its oceans (arrows in the diagram). This tends to produce two tidal bulges: The Moon pulls harder on the closer ocean than it pulls on the solid Earth. And it pulls harder on the solid Earth than it pulls on the […]
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Designing with Natives
On Wednesday, March 12, 2008, native plant designer Alrie Middlebrook will give a talk on designing native gardens. She’s the co-author of Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens, just out from University of California Press. She runs a native plant design business in San Jose called Middlebrook Gardens, and […]
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My Worst Job
I met Dan DeArmond last summer on the property I hoped to subdivide and buy. My friend Dick and I were thinning trees on the entire parcel in preparation for the subdivision. We planned to improve the forest health by clearing around the largest healthiest trees, open up some areas around the homes for improved […]
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More Power to You
PG&E is planning an upgrade of its aging Humboldt Bay power station. It currently produces 135 megawatts from two steam turbine generators working at 35 percent efficiency (backed by two emergency 15-megawatt diesel-fired gas turbines). The new system would employ 10 reciprocating internal combustion engines running on natural gas, capable of producing 163 megawatts with […]
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Gardening in the Snow
I don’t belong to a garden club, and the reason for that is, I’ll admit, pretty stupid: I can’t stand appointments. The thought of having to add something else to my calendar, of having to be somewhere next Thursday at 7 p.m., just wears on me. So I don’t sign up. But sometimes I get […]
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Use Your Local Radar
A National Doppler Radar installation is conveniently located on Bunker Hill south of Ferndale. To see its value in forecasting rain or snow you should visit www.weather.gov/eureka. The following is an introduction to this amazing technology. Weather radar operates at two wavelengths, 5 cm & 10 cm, with ranges of 124 and 248 nautical miles. […]
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Ab Fab
Sara and I went abalone collecting with our friend Mike last summer, but haven’t gone since. If the weather and the sea were nicer I imagine we would have been hooked. I love to clam, especially on the East Coast, where the water is warm, the bottom is fine white sand easy to rake and […]
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On Safari
I almost got my wish. A few weeks ago, I was jonesing for mojitos at midnight in Miami (even the alliteration is compelling) and suddenly there I was, stumbling down Fort Lauderdale’s seedy Beach Boulevard at 2 p.m. on a Thursday, mildly irritated by the gray sky and wind and prospect of a storm. For […]